Apr 18

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A 1% increase in your site’s visitor-to-purchase ratio could mean thousands of dollars in increased profit. Here’s 5 tips to get you started on making your Ecommerce site convert more of your visitors into customers.

1. Optimize Your Site for Mobile Devices

Mobile is a big deal. By 2018, global mobile e-commerce revenues are projected to reach $669 billion — that’s 45% of the projected revenue for the entire e-commerce market. When you’re looking to increase traffic, mobile can be a good place to start. Leading search engines are experimenting with mobile-first indexing. You need to create more than just a responsive design or m.dot site. Make your site easy to navigate from start to finish and include an intuitive, frictionless checkout process. Optimize for touch screen when designing your call to action, product images and form fields, and don’t forget to A/B test different checkout form lengths to find the right balance for optimal conversion rates.

2. Help your customers find what they are looking for.

Customers will leave your site if product information is confusing or they can’t quickly locate what they came for. Visitors often enter a site through the home page or category page. A flat navigation, or condensing your hierarchy to 1-3 layers, combines some of your pages vertically so that it is easier for users to locate specific products in fewer clicks. With in-site search navigation, many buyers will look for generic phrases rather than product names to find information. Using generic phrases, (i.e. “Men’s shoes” or “smartphone cases”) rather than specific product names, gives them the opportunity to broaden their search and find what they want.

3. Acquire relevant traffic

Attracting buyers who don’t need your product won’t convert to sales. Low conversion can be the first indicator that you may be promoting content and messages in the wrong places, or to unintended recipients. Take a look at the search queries in your paid search account and discern whether you will benefit from adding negative keywords to relevant audiences. One common targeting error is selecting rich keywords or buzzwords that may relate to your overall product group, but are still too broad to appeal to your intended audience. Have a strong understanding of who your audience is before you optimize your site and keywords to help align your product more closely to the buyers who need it.

4. Improve your site speed

Longer loading times can significantly decrease your customer’s patience during the buying process. If these customers leave, you may have lost them forever, considering 28% of customers won’t return to a slow site. Search engines also penalize slow websites with lower search rankings. A few ways you could improve your site speed today include compressing your Javascript and CSS scripts, optimizing lossless or lossy images, limiting third-party advertising space and testing your site speed to ensure you are working with a quality web host.

5. Provide a Compelling Product Visual Experience

When it comes to product images, quality can lend credibility. 75% of eCommerce site users rank the ability to zoom in on product images as one of their top reasons to purchase. One image is rarely enough. Providing product visuals with various angles, including a full view and size comparison of the product, can deliver valuable context for your buyer. For example, if a customer is on your site reviewing backpacks, it could be helpful to showcase a person wearing the backpack. The customer will be able to visualize how the bag will look when held over their shoulder and that context can bring them closer to purchasing.

5 Tips for Improving Ecommerce Site Conversion Rates was last modified: October 14th, 2018 by William Gannon